Portable feed grinder carrier



June 1953 LE ROY CARLSON ,6

PORTABLE FEED GRINDER CARRIER Filed Aug. 8, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet i WKM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR. rgg Q2 rlaom i6; BY

LE ROY CARLSON PORTABLE FEED GRINDER CARRIER June 9, 1953 Filed Aug. 8, 1950 Patented June 9, 1953 UNITED q STATES PATENT OFFICE PORTABLE FEED GRINDER CARRIER Le Roy Carlson, Griswold, Iowa Application August 8, 1950, Serial No. 178,324

1 Claim.

manently aflixed to a barn floor. When grinding was necessary,'a piece of mobile farm power machinery was placed substantially in line with the stationary grinder and a relatively long pulley belt was run from a drive pulley shaft on the power machinery to a driven pulley shaft on the the grains to be ground thereby reducing the time and expense usually involved in grinding operations.

Inasmuch as grinders must be kept level to operate efficiently, it is a further object of this invention to provide a carrier frame adapted for attachment to a powered farm mechanism and to receive a grinder and which can be adjusted from either end to keep the grinder level on various types of terrain and in variant weather conditions.

Another object of this invention is to produce a portable farm feed grinder which occupies less space than that usually occupied by a stationary farm feed grinder and which is easily and inexpensively assembled.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a carrier having an adjustable bed adapted to receive grinders of various sizes.

A further object of this invention is to assemble a portable farm feed grinder having a relatively short non-clip continuous pulley belt.

Further objectives and advantages in thi invention may be readily ascertained from the following specifications and attached drawings in which: v

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the carrier attached to a farm tractor and having the grinder mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the carrier.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the carrier.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the carrier.

While this invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, it is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described in a single preferred embodiment. It is not necessarily intended, however, that the invention is to be limited thereby to the specific construction disclosed. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all the modifications and alternative construction falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Heretofcre the grinding of farm feeds has generally been accomplished on stationary farm feed grinders. In most cases the grinder was first pergrinder. In many cases the belt was as long as 22 to 32 feet. The belt often sagged, twisted and,

of course, was accompanied by slipping. It was also necessary for a person grinding feed to transport the feed from its source to the grinder mechanism and ofttimes it was then necessary to transport the ground feed back to the source.

It became essential therefore to discover some method for taking the grinder to the source of the feed in order to grind grain on the spot. This was relatively difficult because of the differences in terrain near the various sources of supply for grains which caused the grinder to be in an unlevel position. A stationary hammer mill grinder generally must be kept level in order for it to operate efficiently.

I have invented a carrier which overcomes the inefficiencyof stationary feed grinding and the obstacles heretofore confronting one attempting *1. to grind feed at its source.

' 1 rear end thereof and has vertical frame members 5 near the front end thereof adapted for engagement with a piece of mobile farm power machinery.

More particularly, this carrier frame 3 comprises a pair of parallel, longitudinally extending bed members 4 spaced apart and having bolt holes ll drilled therein to receive the four corners of an ordinary hammer mill grinder.

The carrier frame is movably supported at its rear end by wheel 22. Because one purpose of this carrier is to provide a carrier which is adjustable from either end, the wheel 22 is adapted to be adjustable vertically. To that end, wheel standards Ill are supported on the rear ends of bed members 4 and form journals for the axle of wheel 22. Each wheel standard has a plurality of vertically positioned journal connections 28 for raising or lowering the wheel. Such adjustment not only aids in levelling the frame but also allows for attachment to variously sized farm power machinery. It is not contemplated that much adjustment will be necessary at the rear end of the carrier, hence it is designed to be manually adjustable.

The front end of the carrier device is also to be raised and lowered to keep the grinder level. To this end, the carrier is equipped with a pair of parallel upright channel members 5 spaced apart and adapted to be connected by means of pins 2| located near the top of the upright members 5 to a set of standard tractor lifter arms I? which are affixed to the rear end of the tractor. The lifter arms ll have connected thereto cranks 2B which when rotated either raise or lower the lifter arms and hence the carrier depending on the direction of rotation. The upright channel members 5 are supported on a cross channel member 6 which extends horizontally across the front end of bed members 4 at right angles-thereto and generally in the same plane.

Raising and lowering the carrier is vitally necessary to the efficient operation of the feed grinder since they keep the grinder level regardless of the condition of the terrain and regardless of certain weather conditions which would cause a grinder of this type to set in an unlevel position. For instance, if the rear wheel of carrier 3 were in a depression in the soil, it is possible that some point along the longitudinal bed members- 4 might rest on a higher point of the terrain and thereby cause the carrier and grinder to be out of a level position. With the portable feed grinder as shown, however, it would be possible to draw the rearwheel to a higher point of the terrain and to raise the front end-oi the carrier to correspond therewith or it would be possible toadjust the rear wheel to raise the rear end of the carrier above the ground to correspond with .the position of the front end of the carrier. Hence, by adjusting either the front or rear end of the'carrier, it is possible at all times to keep the carrier and grinder level and to obtain. a grinder of a portable nature and of increased emciency.

The operative power for the grinder is provided by a transmission connection. from a drive pulley shaft I8 on the powered farm device to a driven pulley shaft 98 on the grinder shown here as a relatively short continuousfi" pulley belt 1 t. The length of the belt may vary slightly according. to the Various grinders and farm power machinery used, but it is shorter than the belts usedin stationary feed grinding.

Once the belt is installed the distancebetween the drive and driven shafts remains fixed, hence an outside source of tension for the belt is provided. To accomplish this, journalblocks l2 are slidably attached on the inside surfaces of the upright channel members 5. The journal blocks are. adjustable vertically of the uprightmembers 5.. Such vertical movement is imparted by crank l5.mounted on top of the upright channel mem. bers and connected to the journal blocks i2 by screw shaft 23. Intermediate the journalblocks and journalled therein at each of its. ends is a bar 13 having mounted thereon a longitudinal adjustable cylindrical drurn id. Movement of the cylindrical drum longitudinally of bar l3 and movementof the journal blocks l 2 vertically cooperate to bring the cylindrical drum I l into. engagement as an idler pulley with the pulley belt It.

It is conceivable that a single user of' the present carrier may have more than one grinderor other devices having different sized bases. To accommodate these variously sized bases, this carrier is provided with a third longitudinal channel. bed member 25 parallel to bed members l and lying in the same plane. The member 25 is adheath cross. basecmember 8.

justable laterally of the carrier and has bolt holes drilled therein for attachment of the base of a grinder or the like. Bed member 25 has one end of its channel closed and adapted to be bolted to the inside leg of cross channel member 6. To accomplish this the inside leg of cross channel member 6 has cut thereon a relatively long slot 26. At its other end adjustable bed member 25 is supported by a cross base member El disposed at right angles to the bed members 4. A slot 27 is also cut into the base of cross base member 8.

' The slots are substantially aligned. To insert the adjustable bed'.=member 25 the closed channel end .is. bolted against the inside leg of cross channel member 6, and the other end is bolted be- By loosening the bolts so holding the adjustable bed member in place "it can be adjusted laterally of the bed and then tightened in place at its new position.

"To impart'rigidity' to the carrier frame 3 it is provided with braces 'E which extend angularly between uprightchannel members 5 and the ends of cross channel :member 6, said ends of crosschannel member fisextending beyond the point of support for: the upright channel member 5. Also a relatively long brace member 9 is ailixed between one ofthe upright members 5 and one end of. the cross base. member 8 set across and at right angles to the longitudinal bed member l. The other end of cross base member 8 extends freely beyond the longitudinal bed member l. Brace Q also acts as a guard for the pulley belt 15. In addition, joint stiffeners 24 are. aiilxedben-eath each bed member 4 and extended to the leading edge of 7 cross channelmember 6'.

I claim:

A portable-grinder carrier comprising a frame adapted to be: attached: for movement therewith toa piece of mobile farm machinery and adapted to receive a grinder thereon, said carrier frame having a bed to (receive thereon the grinder, wheel standards supported on the ends of said bed and projecting, upwardlythere-from and forming journalsfor :mounting avertically adjustable wheel, a front base cross channel member, upright frame members supported on the front base of the carrler and carrying pins for attaching the frame to the mobile farm machinery and cooperative with. lifter arms. on the mobile farm machinery to keep thegrinder level, said bed being adapted to position the'grinder whereby it may be driven by a belt from the mobile farm machinery, and means .for applying tension to. the belt drive comprising journal blocks slidably mounted for vertical movement'between the upright members, bar intermediatethe journal blocks and having a drum-longitudinally slidable thereon for engagement with the belt from the farm machinery to the grinder.

LE. ROY CARLSON.

References Cited in the idle of. this patent STATES PATENTS Ferguson May 2', 1944 

